Gambling with Liberalization: Smallholder Livelihoods in Contemporary Rural Malawi

This paper examines the livelihoods of smallholder households in Malawi based on information derived from six villages in various parts of the country. Through detailed analysis of own-farm production and off-farm economic activities, the study explores similarities, diversities, and disparities in rural livelihoods. Liberalization policies and the high risk of crop failure have produced large disparities between those who achieve high income from own-farm production and those who do not. Off-farm income can help to reduce the risk of own-farm production, but is also a source of income disparity and provides little opportunity for upward economic mobility to escape poverty.

Diversities and Disparities among Female-Headed Households in Rural Malawi

Using data obtained from a survey carried out in six villages in various parts of rural Malawi, this paper examines some of the main characteristics of female-headed households. In the study villages, most female-headed households are in a disadvantageous position relative to their male counterparts in terms of labour endowment, farm size, and agricultural productivity. The high cost of inputs, especially of fertilizer, prevents resource-poor female-headed households from improving maize self-sufficiency through increased productivity and from engaging in high-return agriculture such as tobacco production. The paper also shows that there are marked disparities within the category of female-headed households. Factors that enable some female-headed households to achieve high income include the availability of high-return nonfarm income opportunities, use of social networks to obtain labour and income opportunities, land acquisition through flexible applications of inheritance rules, and the existence of informal tobacco marketing. Livelihood diversification is adopted by both male- and female-headed households, but many of the female-headed households engage in low-return and low-entry-barrier activities such as agricultural wage labour. On the other hand, the high off-farm income in the wealthier female-headed households enables them to purchase fertilizer for own-farm production, contributing to an improvement in productivity and resultant increases in their total income.

Incentives Embedded in Institutions: The Case of Share Contracts in Ghanaian Cocoa Production

Providing price incentives to farmers is usually considered essential for agricultural development. Although such incentives are important, regarding price as the sole explanatory factor is far from satisfactory in understanding the complex realities of agricultural production in Africa. By analyzing the share contracts widely practiced in Ghana, this article argues that local institutions such as land tenure systems and agrarian contracts provide strong incentives and disincentives for agricultural production. Based on data derived from fieldwork in the 1990s, the study analyzes two types of share contracts and the incentive structures embedded in them. The analysis reveals that farmers' investment behavior needs to be understood in terms of both short-term incentive to increase yield and long-term incentive to strengthen land rights. The study concludes that the role of price incentives in agricultural production needs to be reconsidered by placing it in wider incentive structures embedded in local institutions.

The Impact of Tobacco Production Liberalization on Smallholders in Malawi

Burley tobacco production in Malawi was liberalized to permit production by smallholders in the early 1990s. The purpose of this paper is to show which smallholders began producing burley tobacco after liberalization and which smallholders still continue to produce it. Analysis of the characteristics of burley tobacco producers shows that only smallholders who had adequate farm size and adequate funds could start to produce it. With regard to the farm size requirements, only smallholders who had enough acreage to sell tobacco on the auction floors and who had enough acreage to rotate crops could start to produce. With regard to the financial requirements, only smallholders who could procure funds through informal institutions or who possessed their own capital to meet the necessary agricultural expenditures could start. So, it was only the wealthy households which could start to produce tobacco after liberalization and continue to produce it.